Life After Death/Issue 1
"Come on, get the hell up! Now! DEVON!" That was all Devon could make out as he lay on the ground. Everything else was just faded noise. He could feel the cold, moist grass brush up against his bloody face. It happened so fast, he didn't know what to do but lay there and give up. There was nothing left for him. He didn't see the point of getting up and continuing on with his miserable life, only to eventually die the same, horrible fate everyone else eventually will. Why not end the torture now? His mind was settled. Devon looked back and saw the reanimated corpses shuffle ever so slowly towards him. He cringed at the thought of them tearing the flesh from his bones, but accepted that as his inevitable fate. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the feeling of sharp, jagged teeth sinking in to his skin. The feeling of chunks of his skin being torn out of his leg. The feeling of death. ---- The sky was pitch black, the stars sparkling ever so brightly in the clear sky. Devon was lying on the ground in a dark blue sleeping bag staring at the sky. He had short, brown hair, a bit of stubble, and a slightly-muscular build. Beside him was his younger sister, Leslie, a tall, skinny girl with blonde hair tied up into a ponytail. They were camping in the middle of the woods, and there was a small, dim fire smoldering away in the fire pit only a couple feet away, and a small, black car parked inbehind them. The campground was a circular clearing in the forest, with a dirt road off to the left, leading out to the main road. Devon took a deep breath, and slowly and quietly slipped out from under the sleeping bag, and rose to his feet. He shuffled over to the fire, half asleep, and grabbed a stick that had been laying beside it. He poked at a small piece of wood as it broke in half, weakened from the flames. He let out a sigh as he walked over to a tree stump, where there were three bags leaning up against it. He zipped open a light grey one, and pulled out a nearly-empty bottle of water. A crow cawed in the distance, and Devon looked back at Leslie, relieved she was still awake. She was a light sleeper, and usually wasn't able to get much sleep. Devon quickly snapped back into focus and quietly walked over to the fire. He twisted the cap of the bottle off, and gently poured the water over the embers to extinguish them. As he did this, he heard a noise in the distance. It was sort of a grumbling sound, like an animal. It came from deep into the forest. It didn't sound anything like any animal that would be in the middle of a forest. It was too soft to be a bear, and too light to be a wolf. Devon dropped the now empty bottle on the ground, and ran back to the sleeping bags. He softly shook Leslie, desperately trying to wake her up. "Leslie!" he whispered in her ear. She abruptly opened her eyes and sprang into a sit. "What?" she said loudly. "What is it?" "Shh. I heard a noise in the forest, it sounded like it may have been a wolf. I think we should get into the car, just in case." "It was probably just people walking around. Besides, wolves don't like to be around people. We learned that in school last week." "Well, that's nice, but I still don't want anyone getting hurt. I didn't say it was a wolf, it could have been anything. Even something worse. Let's get in the car." "Fine," Leslie grumbled as she stood up, grabbing both sleeping bags with her. She walked over to the car, while Devon ran back to grab their bags. "Hurry up and open it!" she whispered. Devon desperately searched for the keys, opening up every pocket in each bag. "I can't find them!" he whispered back in a panic. He heard the noise again, this time more defined. It was a rough, gurgling sound, and was getting closer. Devon dropped the bags and put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a silver ring with two keys and an entry remote on it. "Got 'em." He put the key in the lock of the driver side door, turned it, and opened it. Leslie climbed in and crawled over the ripped up, black, leather seats into the back of the car, while Devon grabbed the bags and slipped into the drivers seat. The two got comfortable, now using the sleeping bags as blankets, and were ready to doze off. "Goodnight," Devon said in a relieved tone. "Night," she replied, clearly annoyed at being woken up for something she thought was so pointless. ---- Devon shot his eyes open, awakened a loud scream. He looked on in horror at what he saw in front of him. Walking, rotting corpses. There were about a dozen of them, gray, ripped up flesh with blood all over their mouth and neck. They were surrounding the car, clawing at it, trying to get at the two. Devon looked back at Leslie, who was huddled in the middle of the seat with her sleeping bag over her head. "Leslie," Devon said, quickly and quietly. She pulled the sleeping bag off her head. She was teary eyed and pale. "What are we going to do?" she said shakily. Devon turned back around and stared into space for a moment. Then, in an instant, he pulled the keys back out of his pocket, put them in the ignition, started up the car, put it in reverse, and stepped on the gas. The car shot back into a tree, causing the car to violently shake. Devon then put it into drive, and spun the steering wheel all the way to the left, where the dirt path out of the forest was, and stepped on the gas one more time. The car sped forward, slamming into and crushing one of the bodies as it's blood splattered all over the windshield. "We're gonna be fine," Devon assured Leslie. "We'll go home, get Auntie Judy to come over, a-and wait until this all dies down. This has got to be some sort of...plague. Plagues always die down after a little bit. It just takes time...it just takes time." The car sped down the highway, zooming past abandoned cars and trucks. About two hours later, Devon pulled into the parking lot behind their old, brick apartment building. The two of them leaped out of the car, and sprinted towards the building. Devon whipped the glass door open, and they bolted up the stairs all the way to the top floor. Devon pulled out the set of keys out, and used the other to open up suite 505. Leslie ran into the living room and turned on the TV, trying to change it to the news, while Devon went to the phone to call their aunt, Judy. However, he noticed that there was a missed call, and clicked the button. "Devon? It's me, Aunt Judy. I just heard on the news...reanimated corpses...T-t-they've swarmed the streets. They're saying to evacuate but...the roads...You need to get over here...please. Hurry. Before..." Devon looked over to Leslie, who was still in the living room watching the news. He walked over to her, and saw what was on the television. The roads were swarmed with dozens of the rotten corpses and abandoned vehicles. They were completely blocked. "Come on," Devon gestured Leslie to go down the hallway lined with dirty clothes. "Pack your bags. We're going to go to Auntie Judy's." "Why?" Leslie questioned. "Wouldn't an apartment really high up be better than a house? It would be harder for those...things to get to us." "We just gotta go...go on. Grab whatever's important - clothes, blankets, pillows. I'll grab as much food as I can." ---- After about half an hour, the two were at the front door with their bags packed and ready to go. "You ready?" Devon asked her. "Are you sure you haven't left anything behind?" "I'm sure," she replied. "Alright..." Devon looked around the messy apartment one last time. "Let's hope we aren't gone too long." The two went down the stairs and through the back door, into the parking lot. The black car was parked right by the front doors, and the rest of the parking lot was empty, save for a rusty, beige van at the other end. Devon opened up the door as Leslie climbed into the back again. He sat in the front, shut the door, and started up the car. "Alright, let's go," he said as he started pulling out. The roads to Judy's house were nearly empty. There were cars abandoned along the sides, and a few reanimated corpses walking around, but no cars. "I guess they all stayed inside," Devon deduced. "Or they evacuated," Leslie suggested in an alarmed tone. About ten minutes later, the car pulled up in front of an old, white house. The grass in the fron was brown, and there were dead flowers scattered all along the side of the sidewalk leading to the front doors, and the front door was wide open. "Oh no," Devon said, under his breath, as he whipped his door open. He grabbed his bag and raced over to the house. He ran up the steps, Leslie desperately running to catch up. Devon slowly walked into the dark, seemingly lifeless house. "Where is she?" Leslie questioned as she finally approached the front door. "Be quiet," Devon warned her. The two tiptoed through the foyer into the living room, where they found a dead body on the ground. Devon, fearing the worst, gently put his bag on the ground, and looked over to Leslie. "Go grab a knife from the kitchen," he told her. "In case we..." Leslie ran into the kitchen, while Devon carefully looked over the body. He saw a wound in the side of the head, so he softly turned it over, realizing that it was dead. Devon was relieved to find that it was not Judy, but another, now-deceased, reanimated corpse. But, all of a sudden, his relief turned to fear. If one of those things was in here, where's Aunt Judy? Devon ran into the kitchen to get Leslie, but found something shocking. Leslie was crouching beside a skinny, pale woman with neck-length black hair, who was sitting up against the wall. Her eyes were closed, and she had blood all over herself. Devon sat down beside his sister. "Aunt Judy?" he said. "Aunt Judy...are you there?" She opened her eyes and looked straight at Devon, and then at Leslie. "You two are okay," she said with a sigh. "You two are okay..." "Are you okay?" Leslie asked. Judy put her right arm on her lap, and pulled up her sleeve, and pulled a blood-soaked towel off of her upper arm, which revealed a chunk of skin missing. "One of them got in...I was trying to get over to your place but...it was right there. It came in, and I tried to stop it, but...it sunk it's teeth in my arm. I got it with my key, that fucker took a while, but I killed it. Then I tried calling 911, but they weren't picking up. I didn't know what else to do, so I put a cloth on it and just sat down. I must have passed out...what time is it?" Devon looked up at a clock, which was just above the entrance to the kitchen. "Seven-thirty," he told her. "I've been here for six hours, then. I don't know how much longer I have." "Don't say that." "What am I supposed to say? "Oh, don't worry, kids. Just get me some ice and an advil and everything will be fine"? That's a lie, you know I don't like to lie...I know I wasn't always there for you two, and I regret that. I love you two, I hope you realize that. I just wish I could have been around more for you. I'm a terrible person." "No you aren't, you were just a terrible parent," Devon said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. "Good one." "I love you, too." "Me too," Leslie said, with tears slowly streaming down her face. "Devon," Judy continued. "These things, whatever they are...they only die if you hit their brain. Trust me, I tried stabbing it in the heart, lungs, throat...it wouldn't die, until I stabbed it in the head." Judy put her head against the wall, and took a deep breath. She slowly closed her eyes, and, after several seconds, started sliding down the wall. Devon grabbed her, and gently shook her. "Aunt Judy?" he said. "Aunt Judy?! Don't die on us, please!" She was still unresponsive. "Is she...?" Leslie asked. "She's dead." Devon looked over to Leslie, who was holding the steak knife that she had been sent to retrieve. "She's gonna become one of them." "What?" "How do you think this spread? They only seem to want to eat us. They probably spread some sort of virus when they bite you, that's the only thing that makes sense." "So...what are we gonna do?" "We have to stab her in the head. Remember what she said, you have to destroy the brain...Leslie, we have to do this, she wouldn't want to turn into one of those things." Devon put his hand out, and gestured for the knife. Leslie hesitantly placed it in his hand. "You should probably go into the living room," Devon suggested. Leslie nodded, and headed off so she wouldn't have to see what was about to happen. Devon gripped the knife, and rose it up so that the blade was almost touching her eye. "I'm sorry," Devon said sorrowfully as he stabbed the knife into her head. ---- Later that night, the two were huddled in Judy's living room, wrapped up in blankets. "She was right," Leslie said, breaking the silence. "Right about what?" Devon asked, puzzled. "That she was a terrible person." "How can you say that, especially right after she died saying that she wanted to be there for us more?" "She was always out partying with her friends, she didn't pay attention to either of us. Hell, she hardly even noticed that we left. It took her five days to phone you, remember?" "You might not believe what she said, but I do. She just wasn't ready to have to take on the responsibility of having two kids to take care of." There was a brief silence, which was soon broken by Devon. "We can fortify this place. Barricade the windows with wood, stock up on supplies. We can wait here until this is all over...we can survive this." Cast * * * Deaths *Judy Brandt Trivia *First appearance of . *First appearance of . *First and last appearance of (Alive). *The events that take place in this issue are very similar to the events taking place in the first chapter of the original Life After Death series. **Both start off with a cut-out of the story that foreshadows events later in the series. **Both start off with two main protagonists. ***Both also feature Devon Brandt as the main character. **Both have the main two characters watching a new broadcast detailing the zombie outbreak. **Both have the main two characters coming across a dying or dead person that they knew. Previous Issue: N/A Next Issue: Issue 2 Category:Life After Death Issues Category:Hippo